“Hi Alistair
Thanks for a great site and the many tips.
Our layout started as a small track setup on the floor for my son to play with on those cold, wet winter days.
The train set is a Lima blue train I received as a gift in the mid 1970’s.
In the last year or so our collection of trains has grown and the track has moved onto a 6X3 table in the corner of the living room.
Building a train with the help of a 5 year old certainly came with its challenges but it has been great fun along the way.
We are currently lifting some of the track to resolve some of the rookie mistakes, the worst of which is the gradients which ended up being a bit steep.
We run mainly South African railway trains made by Lima and the layout is based on South African scenery. More pictures to follow as we progress.
Regards
Wayne
Cape Town
South Africa”
The mountains taking shape
The scratch built bridge
Main road with mostly card stock buildings
When the sun sets
“HI Alistair
Thanks for the advice. I have posted a drivers seat view of the lower main line on my Alpine railway layout. I used a cheap mini camera attached to a flatbed car pushed around by a Steam Loco. Not as good quality as a go-pro camera but worth the effort. As others have said, it allows you to see where you need to do more landscaping.
Cheers
Peter in Adelaide”
Latest ebay cheat sheet is here (it’s going mad at the moment).
A brilliant ‘driver cam’ from Peter – one of the best I’ve seen. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
That’s all this time. Please do keep ’em coming.
And if today is the day you take the first steps for your own layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.
Best
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
very nice, although the semaphore signals are either broken or set wrongly? Halt should set the signal in the horizontal position, while go should show the semaphore raised. That’s how the signals work in Europe.
What a brilliant video…the dramatic scale and backdrop. I rank this as one of the most enjoyable videos I’ve seen and I have seen many. Thanks Ian
Fantastic. At last here in the State of Oregon across the Willamette River near Jasper, Oregon and Union Pacific’s MP 613. I getting closer to full retirement. Uncovering my desk and getting my small railroad going again.
Your presentation here one for viewers to enjoy and be inspired by.
That was one the best cam runs I have seen for a long time.Well done and thankyou. Peter Norfolk UK.
Great layout Wayne, not sure whose playing with it more though, you or your 5 year old! Mike S
enjoyed the “cab ” ride .
Loved it. I noticed the other running locomotive with smoke. Can you or anyone else tell me what is the best product to use in the old Triang “synchro smoke” equipped locomotives? I’ve heard a light oil like 3 in 1 but also glycerin?
Many thanks, Paul
VERY GOOD SEND ME MORE OF YOUR LAOUT
Outstanding,and a great looking layout.
Wow! Very nice. I hope to get something put together some time. I have been working with N scale for 2 years now. Someday.
Holy Moly Batman!! What a great layout! I’d love to see the track plan for Peter’s layout!
Hi Wayne.Very nice layout.I like how you done it up.May I ask what is the road made of.Thanks for the photo’s hope to see more.
cool track cam Peter.Like to see more of your layout.thanks
Great video -good idea re the camera. Fantastic layout.
That is one superb run, the track plan is mind boggling.
Brilliant piece of work. It makes you want to see where the other lines go.
Andrew
Just shows what can be achieved in a smaller layout built with ‘talent and skill’ I immediately thought that two of the locomotives were from the Blue Train. Well done. Mike. Ottawa ,Canada.
You had said you moved the layout to a 6 X 3 area. With this video, it seamed much larger! The next time I go to my father in-laws place, I’m going to mount a cam on his to see the effect. I just hope I can run his “O” gauge toy set slow enough. With yours, the speed is fine so you can see details. Very good run – Pete, No. Calif.
What a fantastic layout! How long did it take to build?
Love the layout Wayne and what a great helper you have. I am sending my grandson his first train set, he is three years old and loves my train layout. He is now over 3500 KMs away from me.
Peter,great video,thanks for the ride.
wow Wayne what a nice family run layout and your kid looks like he’s a ‘railroader’ already…nice scenery build and the town is excellent…….and Peter the video is priceless…great ride on your ‘pike’…!!
Well done Peter. Nice work with your team beside you.
Great layout & backdrop, but a pity that the cab cam picked up The Matterhorn in Switzerland!
Mike
To Wayne and your son.
A very impressive layout with good detail and lots to see. I hope you both enjoy many many hours of fun running your trains.
Cam Fantastic I think I will have to resurrect my layout its all stacked away after years but this has given me motive to setting it out again thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks Wayne and Peter. We all have so much to learn from each other,
regardless of our ages and degrees of experience. Bravi tutti !!!
js
great photos of your layout seeing the start then progression is great has really inspired me to put a little bit more into my layout. then the day to night photos really finished it off .the cam video was really good to watch stopping at stations and seeing other trains was great.
Wayne, great attention to detail, I especially like the groupings of people.
Peter a great way to show your layout, good to see passing trains in the scene.
That was a great train ride. Also one great lay out in that size space. good health to you.
Terrific video. I felt like I was on the Mine Train Ride at Disneyland. beay\utiful layout. keep up the good work. Thanks for sharing. – Tom.
Thanks for the great comments guys. @2:30pm we used grey acrylic craft paint for the roads.
Hi That crafter’s paint is a good buy.If you add a few drops of water to the paint it will come out smoother.super nice layout work thanks.
Nice layout Wayne, lot’s of interest in a small space, nice to see you are getting the lad interested while he is young.
Superb cam ride around a brilliant looking layout. – Thanks to both for sharing.
Steve R. UK.
Thanks Wayne for sharing your pics in progress. Nice job so far. The most important is the memories you are building with your little guy. Priceless!
Peter, you did a great job with the video work. The layout looks superb. Enjoyed the ride.
Linda, PA
this shows why the details are so important, get a train’s eye view really shows the work put into a layout.
Very Nice !
Hi Wayne, great video, I really think you’re a bit game putting points/switches in the tunnels, I wouldn’t dare would have to have either a good memory where they are set, of some very good signaling system. Never mind it is a great layout, all the details on the stations etc.ect. Lindsay in NZ
Thanks Wayne for the ride I enjoyed it. Almost like a mild roller coaster ride.KOOL!
Wow!!!! That’s an awesome layout !!!! Love the train cam idea that was so cool!!!! Thanks for sharing the pic and the video Chris
Great ride! I have played it several times and I see something different each time. I would love to see the track plan for this layout.
Fan”FUN”tastic!!! Thanks friend
Great job! Nice work in all respects. And with a 5yo at your side, you are one helluva father, too.
Wow that is a great layout with plenty of detail great job
Wayne, Great layout. When you said it was 6×3 I thought it must be N scale with all the track and scenes in your photos. Then I realized, you’re probably using meters and not feet, so 6×3 meters would be a fairly large layout. You and the 5 year old have done a great job on it.
Peter, Nice video. I always enjoy these cab’s eye view videos because you see so much more of the layout structure. Looks like you have some pretty hard to reeach trackage in places, Thanks for sharing it.
To Paul, I’m not familiar with the Triang smoke units, but I read recently somewhere that baby oil makes a good substitute for MTH and BLI smoke oil.
To Wayne.
I love the layout.
I have always wanted the Blue Train. I grew up in CT but now live in the UK.
I like the attention to detail like the security hut and barriers.
I hope you enjoy it for many years to come.
Nice cab ride but for me the focal length was set too long causing the near objects to be out of focus and made me dizzy.
Love the layout, and especially the cams-eye-view. That’s an enjoyable perspective. Started my son out at that age. He went to a bunk bed where he slept on top and train on bottom. Now he’s 43 and has a separate building for his trains. We talk trains every week. May your father/son relationship be as wonderful.
Also, on the smoke, as a professional firefighter, we always used vanilla extract for the smoke house, as kids don’t have the sensitivity to it, and it can be bought cheaply in bulk.
WOW is all I can say..
Excellent railroading, THANK YOU PETER AND THANK YOU ALISTAIR.
Wayne,
I really enjoyed that. One ride was not enough! May take another ride later!
John Philadelphia USA
Nice video, looks a great layout
This is the day of your wedding and you want everything to be perfect. So you hire a professional photographer that shows up with just a Polaroid camera. ……
The most scenic ride I have had so far watching these videos. Everyone before me has expressed how much I enjoyed it. I just hope you higher a new photographer with the right equipment to give us a well deserved view of your layout. Thanks for thinking about it. Doug C.